Mark Hughes’ men will play in the competition for the second time in three years after finishing behind Chelsea, who have already qualified for Europe, in the disciplinary table

Fulham will play in next season's Europa League after being granted the fair-play berth allocated by the Premier League.Premier League runners-up Chelsea won the fair play award but their qualification for the Champions League allows the Europa League slot to be passed down to the second ranked team.

The Cottagers had just one player sent off throughout their league campaign, with Zoltan Gera being dismissed in the club's final game of the season - a 2-2 draw with Arsenal.The allocation of the extra Europa League spot comes as a result of England finishing second in Uefa’s fair play table.

The Premier League said in a statement: "Fulham FC has finished the season as the highest placed club in the 2010-11 Fair Play League that has not already qualified for UEFA competitions via the 2010-11 Barclays Premier League.

"The club will take the additional European place awarded to England and compete in next season's Uefa Europa League."

During the 2009-10 campaign when Fulham were last in the competition, Roy Hodgson guided the likes of Bobby Zamora, Clint Dempsey and Mark Schwarzer to the Europa League final where they lost out narrowly to Atletico Madrid after conquering the likes of Hamburg, Wolfsburg and Juventus

Entry into the competition will mean an early start to the campaign for Mark Hughes’ side, with pre-season training likely to begin in June.

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